


Time Goes On

by Chiroptach



Series: Twobats Series [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Some Humor, fighting amoungst alters, much more angst in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21948970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiroptach/pseuds/Chiroptach
Summary: Taking place after the end of It Started At 2, Harvey and Harv find that not all of their issues are handled after moving in with Bruce, especially not those inside themself. Bruce has to deal with his infinite kids and their unexpected reactions to Harvey and Harv.There is gonna be some rough parts and angst, however there will be a happy ending. They deserve it.
Relationships: Harvey Dent/Bruce Wayne
Series: Twobats Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580314
Comments: 17
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

Surgery was a daunting prospect. Harv wouldn’t say it, but Harvey knew him well enough to know that he was worried too. Christopher was not so easy to tell with. He had consciously lived with some idea of Harv’s existence since he was young. Christopher seemed knewer though. His therapist explained that despite this, it was fairly likely Christopher had been there all along. He just recently became aware of him. He always sort of thought that his missing time was all taken by Harv, but the more they actually focused on integration and trusting one another they started to realize there was still missing time. That was when they realized there was more time missing. Well, technically after they stopped blaming each other for forgetting and got a journal. Then stopped blaming each other for not writing it down in the journal. Christopher was mostly obnoxious and kept telling them they deserved to die during surgery for their crimes. He was a real fun guy. Harv wanted to ignore him, and if he could kill him. Harvey had to remind him that they couldn’t murder or get rid of Christopher and that his role in their system could change. He could learn to function with them. Then, like a 12-year-old on XBox, he told them to die again. 

“Hey! Harvey and the Dents, how have you been?” asked Joker. 

_ We should kill him.  _ Harv noted. 

_ That is the only reasonable thing you have ever said, _ Christopher agreed. He rarely spoke to them. This was good. 

_ We are not killing anyone. By not killing we kill not be in Arkham while he is. Then we don’t ever have to deal with him again.  _ Harvey was fronting anyways. His initial thought was that since he was fronting their opinions didn’t matter, but that train of thought got him into Arkham in the first place. If they all worked together on things like this, even when Harvey was fronting, then he could better trust Harv to control them when he fronted. Christopher though… Interestingly, he had already changed once. Before he was aware of them he didn’t have a name, nor did he attack them in the way he did. However, Harvey had been told that Christopher had always been interested in Twoface’s downfall. Now he just intended to do it internally. 

“Harvey? And the Dents? You in there?” Joker asked, sitting on top of a table.

“What do you want?” asked Harvey.

“Well, to whom it may concern,” Joker began, grinning.

“Would you stop doing that? If you wanted to actually know who to address you could just ask!”

“Oh! Of course. I wouldn’t want to impede your progress. That’s Harv’s job!” cackled the Joker. Harvey knew he had to keep his temper. He walked away from the Joker and stood next to Waylon. Joker rarely messed with Waylon or people near him. Likely because even the Joker knew Waylon could and would eat him. Waylon eyed him for a moment.

“Hey Harvey,” he said. Waylon was oddly intelligent, and realized things much more quickly than expected. 

“Waylon. How’s it been?” 

“Good. You gettin’ surgery today?” Waylon said. 

“Yeah. We are.” 

“That’s good.” 

“Yeah.”

“You worried?” asked Waylon.

“It’s surgery. Of course.” 

“You’ll be alright,” Waylon said, putting a big hand on his shoulder. Somehow that was comforting. For a time. Then he started to focus on what would happen after. After they had facial reconstruction surgery, they were going to be hospitalized in a hospital instead of Arkham. Then they would be allowed to move out of the hospital and in with Bruce. They were going to live with him. They would officially be partially hospitalized, in the sense that they had to go to Arkham in the mornings and would spend roughly half their day there. They had to keep a journal and work on keeping time as best they could. They also had to work their hardest on integrating Christopher. Despite him being a jackass. Harvey sighed. He shouldn’t say that. He should try to be nicer to Christopher. Maybe he’d be nicer in return.

They were laying back, letting their head hit the pillow. Harv was trying to relax and breath steady. He wished he could control it and not be the person who had to deal with it. He wanted so badly to punch the nurse right in the face as he pressed the needle into their arm. He wanted to fight back, protect them all. Punch Christopher. They put the anesthetic mask over his face. He took a deep breath. He started to relax. He really wanted to punch Christopher. Yet he couldn’t. He also wanted to punch the nurse. And Joker. He was feeling punchy. And tired. He was very tired. Then he was asleep. 

He woke up himself still. It was surprising. For a moment he was immediately pissed off and wanted to rip the IVs out of his arm and leave. Then he realized their body was way,  _ way  _ too tired to do that. Bruce didn’t come. Bruce wasn’t there. He looked around. Then realized he could only see out of one eye. He rolled and then saw Bruce.

“Bruce!” he said softly. “Bruce!” 

“Yeah, it’s me, it’s Bruce,” Bruce said.

“Bruce,” Harv said softly again. “I thought you left us to die, but I just can’t see.”

“Left you to  _ die? _ ” Bruce asked. 

“I missed you.”

“Harv, I saw you all a day ago, I would never leave you to die,” Bruce said. 

“Bruce I literally can’t feel anythin’. I can’t feel our face… Oh god. Bruce our face- what do we look like?”

“Covered in bandages,” Bruce said, looking a little less upset. 

“You think we’ll ever feel it? Feel feel it?”

“Huh? Your face?” 

“I wanna be smooched,” Harv said. He felt good. Nothing hurt. He just kept talking. He could barely hear Harvey and Chris. He could barely think himself. He wasn’t sure if any of them were thinking. “If I smooched you, would you feel it?”

“Yes, Harv,” Bruce said. Bruce smiled. 

“I wanna kiss you. I wanna kiss you all over your face. I hope we can feel with our face.” 

Bruce visited them, and then got to bring them home. He pretty quickly realized that they had three modes on pain medications. Harv liked to talk and express a constant desire to be loved and kissed. Harvey sat there for the most part, occasionally talking a bit. Harvey was always hungry. Christopher rarely if ever fronted. Bruce knew that once or twice before their pain medications were reduced he had seen the Judge. Christopher swore a bit and wouldn’t let Bruce near him either. When their medications were reduced they became more lucid. However, not nearly lucid enough to help Bruce when Jason came.

“Yo what the hell is that?” Jason asked when he first saw them. 

“What the hell are you? Get fucked you bucket-headed brat!” snarled Harv.

“Harv, be nice,” Bruce said. “I told all of you about this before they moved in.”

“I thought it was a joke, man. Bruce, what the hell? What the actual hell?” 

“I thought you were alright with this, you said you-”

“You won’t let Damian have another dog but you’ll let a whole ass adult criminal in your house? Like the dog would at least chase criminals out of the house.” Bruce had been genuinely worried for a while that his children were going to fear or hate Harvey, Harv, and Christopher. He had not considered that they would use them as an excuse to bring more animals in the house. 

“We’re three whole ass criminals,” Harv growled. Bruce didn’t know why he was being aggressive all of a sudden. He was also being very unhelpful.

“So three dogs it is,” Damian said. 

“Damian, Jason,  _ no. _ ”

“We  _ have  _ room.”

“You know, I expected you two to be very against the idea of Harvey being here-”

“Oh I absolutely am. He’s a criminal and should be in prison,” Damian said. “But if I can use the presence of the criminal to get more animals in the house-”

“I mean I get that technically he’s been through like therapy and shit and they’re trying to fix him, but I still don’t like this.” That was when Bruce realized he needed to discuss Harvey’s condition. And the fact that Harv and Christopher were people. 

“Alright, I hate to do this, but I’m gonna call a family meeting.”

“No, please, Bruce, have some fucking mercy,” said Jason. 

“I’m doing it,” said Bruce.

“Father, why?”

“It’s too late, it’s happened.” Bruce called a family meeting in the group chat and got a similar response from everyone else in it. Bruce helped Harv back to bed, telling him to stay.

“Bruce be careful, there’s assholes out there.”

“Harv, they’re my kids, I can handle them. Stay here.”

“Okay, I will.” 

It took awhile for everyone to get there, and get off patrol. Barbara, Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, Alfred, Alfred the cat, and Titus the dog gathered around on the couches. Bruce took a breath.

“Alright, everybody you all know about Harvey at this point, but there is something important you all need to be aware of. Harvey has a disorder known as dissociative identity disorder. I know some of you know a lot about it, but on a basic level, it means that Harvey has alters, who also share his body. They are people, like Harvey, and are somewhat.. They communicate and have the same body but they’re all different people from Harvey. There’s Harvey Dent- the one you all know about. Harv- who you would likely call Twoface, but it’s notable that Harv isn’t responsible for every bad thing they’ve done. The others are equally capable of violence. Harv most likely won’t be physically violent with any of you, as his role is to protect them all. Christopher is the last and most difficult. Not sure what he does, yet, to be honest, but he’s aggressive- not physically. He’s mostly just cruel to Harvey and Harv.” There was a pause. Bruce decided to let them discuss it mostly amongst themselves. 

“You brought an actual fuckin’ crazy guy in the house then, huh?” Jason said. 

“Jason, this one time, shut up,” Dick said. “Like I get it, I absolutely do. It seems big and scary and he was a literal criminal and it seems wild, but DID comes from like, serious-  _ serious  _ trauma. Like real bad. Usually in early childhood.” Jason paused.

“I get that, and if it was any normal person I wouldn’t be that worried about it, but Twoface has killed a lot of people- innocent people. And you have to preface that he  _ probably  _ won’t be violent towards us,” Jason said. “And yeah, he’s had therapy, but he’s still potentially violent. If this was any other violent rogue I would feel basically the same. Like I’m outta the house, so you do your own thing, but if he hurts anybody in our family I will literally put him down.” There was a pause.

“If he tried to hurt me, I would do that myself,” Damian added. 

“Look, guys, I know the damage the rogues can do,” Barbara spoke up. The room was very quiet. “But if we don’t give the ones who actually try to change a chance to change then why do we keep them alive? Why are they in Arkham? I get it, some of them are not going to change because they don’t want to. But I believe in their ability to. Additionally, if Harvey changes- well, all of them. If Harvey, Harv, and Christopher can change, then there will be actual, tangible hope for others who  _ want  _ to change. There are others out there who want to change. There’s gotta be,” Barabara said. 

“Okay, but concept: He changes somewhere else,” Jason said. 

“Where?” Tim asked. “I can’t think of a more logical place. He can’t go to the continuous and highly intensive therapy he needs to get better while working a full time job in order to afford an apartment in Gotham. Then of course, the answer would be for Bruce to use his tons of money to just pay for an apartment for him. But then, his disorder is characterized by memory gaps, which I would presume he’s not completely over yet?” Tim asked Bruce.

“I mean, he’ll never be completely over it, just eventually the three of them will be able to work it out and minimize time lost.”

“So someone who can watch after them and make sure they all go to therapy would be best. Even better is someone who could deal with them specifically in the worst case scenario where they become a violent super criminal again. And who is better at managing a recovering super-criminal through the power of hypervigilance and could definitely deal with him if he went full Twoface more so than Batman? I don’t like the thought of him being here and potentially violent, but there isn’t much better of a place for him to be.” 

“Aight, I get it. But I’m not gonna trust any of them till they show they can be trustworthy,” Jason said. 

“Agreed.”

“That’s absolutely fair,” Bruce said. He hadn’t expected them to take this as an argument as to where Harvey would stay, but it was good to see they understood and had over all accepted the situation. 

The house was unfamiliar. Nothing felt quite right. He walked around the room, with little to no idea of how to get around. The other two were so good at getting them into awful situations. Christopher really hated them both. He hit a wall, walking through a doorway. That was when he first became truly conscious of their predicament. Something was on their face. He stumbled around until he found a mirror. They were covered in bandages on the burnt side of their face. He had been vaguely aware the others intended to do something to their face. He wasn’t sure what. He wanted to know. Potentially, it could damage their face quiet permanently to remove the bandages early. They deserved it. He peeled the side of the bandages off and then peeled it all the way. It got stuck on the bridge of their nose. He felt a jolt of anger go through him and tore it all the way off. He looked at their face. It was quite similar to the way it had been. Harvey’s face was slightly moist on what had been the bandaged side. He touched it. They had repaired their face. They were so fucking stupid. Thinking that they could fix what they’d done so superficially. They didn’t deserve this. They deserved to have to look in the mirror everyday and see the scars inside and out. To look at Twoface. To know what they’d done. He looked down at a vase on the table. He could definitely give them what they deserved. 


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred heard the vase shattering before anyone else did. They were chatting and had moved to the kitchen to consume everything, as young adults, teens, and children did. Alfred enjoyed having them around. However, Alfred the cat had a habit of pushing vases over. Alfred decided he would intervene and save his cat counterpart from the glass. He walked back to the living room and found Alfred the cat, sitting on the couch. No glass. No broken vases. Harvey. He walked quickly, trying not to alert the entire Bat Family. If something had happened the last thing they needed was everyone in the room at once, panicking. He went to the room Bruce had left him in and knocked. 

“Master Dent?” Alfred asked. There was a pause.

“Yeah, God, I’m so sorry, I can fix the vase-”

“What happened?” Alfred asked firmly, but quietly. “May I come in?” There was a pause. 

“Yes, of course, there’s just a vase by the door, please, be careful, I don’t wanna cause any more issues.” Alfred opened the door- already unlocked- and walked around the vase. There were bandages and blood on the floor. Alfred took a deep breath. He shut the door behind him. Harvey was in the bathroom. There had clearly been some attempt to clean the vase, and then there was blood on the shattered pieces as well. Alfred would like to think that Harvey had broken a vase accidentally in his less than perfectly lucid state, that he was loopy on pain medications and had knocked it over and cut himself trying to clean it so Alfred didn’t have to. But that didn’t explain the bandages. Alfred walked to the bathroom. Harvey was sitting on the floor near the tub, wads of toilet paper pressed to his face. Not absolutely soaked in blood, but still quite a bit of blood. One of his hands was bleeding as well. 

“Mr Dent, do you want me to call an ambulance?” Alfred was panicking, but internally. Bruce had braced him for seeing blood. 

“God, I don’t wanna be a bother.. I’m so sorry.”

“What happened, Harvey?” asked Alfred.

“Christopher thought we didn’t deserve to have our face back together,” Harvey said softly. 

“Let me look at it,” Alfred said. He moved to Harvey’s side and took his hands, moving them away from his face. Then he took the toilet paper off his face. It was one long cut from the bridge of his nose up and across his face. His face was damp with the orange surgical sterilizer. It looked almost exactly the same way that it had before. His skin was a bit tighter around his eye, which looked to be blind. There were a few places it was slightly different and he had a few odd dimples, but over all he looked good. The cut, however, was definitely deep enough to scar. 

“Who all is here? Wasn’t Jason coming by?” asked Harvey softly.

“Everyone’s here. Bruce called a family meeting,” Alfred said. 

“Goddamnit. I don’t… I just… I didn’t even do this and now he gets to run off and I have to deal with the consequences…” 

“Stay here.  _ Right here.  _ All three of you. I’m going to sterilize and clean your wound. Alfred got up and walked down to the Batcave. He gathered the hydrogen peroxide and some cotton balls. Then he got some new bandages.

“Whatcha fixin’ up Al?” asked Jason. Alfred paused. 

“Jason, I know you enjoy sharing information with everyone as loudly and quickly as possible, but it is incredibly important that you do  _ not  _ bring this to everyone’s attention. Especially not Master Bruce.” 

Harv took over at some point. He and Harvey had been aware again from the moment that Christopher pressed the glass into their face, but it had taken a lot for their of them to manage to get to the front. Christopher probably only let them after he had successfully fucked up their face. Alfred came back, and then came Jason. 

_ Fantastic. Fuckin’ great.  _ Harv thought.

_ Don’t be an ass to him,  _ Harvey said.

_ Get off my dick, he’s an ass and I’ll be an ass back.  _ Alfred dipped the cotton ball in the hydrogen peroxide and pressed it on their face immediately. Harv almost gasped. It burned, a lot.

“You can handle it Master Dent,” Alfred said. Jason almost laughed. Alfred finished cleaning and bandaging their face back up. “I’m taking care of the glass, Harvey will just have to forgive me.” Alfred bandaged their hand as well. Harv was alright with that so long as Alfred didn’t get hurt. He knew that Harvey was not. Jason stayed. Harv was about to punch him right there. 

“What’s your deal? You’re not like.. Standard Harvey, right?” asked Jason.

“I’m Harv,” he responded. Jason was being civil, so he was required to be as well. 

“Why are you so aggressive with me, like this morning? Like is being aggressive your.. Role?” 

“My ‘role’ is to protect us. And you’ve tried to shoot us.”

“You’ve tried to shoot me back,” Jason said, sitting next to him. There was a pause. “You ever like… Worry you can’t be redeemed? Like you’ve done too much wrong?” 

_ I can punch him for that one, right?  _ Harv asked.

_ Harv I think it’s a bonding thing. Like…. Try to bond with him a little. He’s one of Bruce’s kids.  _

“Yeah, what about it?” There was a pause.

“Like actually?” 

“I did a lot to avenge us, which I feel was deserved, but there have been… There are people I’ve hurt that I shouldn’t have. I’m not gonna bullshit with you, I’ve fucked up. What about it?” Jason paused. 

“What are you gonna do about it? How are you gonna make sure people are safe from you?” 

“I’m not a fuckin’ werewolf, Jason. I can control myself.”

“Then what’s with your face?” 

“That’s Christopher. He’s not me. Also before you can ask more stupid questions, he’s not gonna hurt anybody else. He only wants us to suffer.”

“So you’re the violent one, right? You’re Twoface?”

“We’re  _ all  _ Twoface. I mean Chris would take offence to that but me and Harvey are definitely both Twoface. Also if you’re looking to get punched you’re talkin’ to the right guy, but I don’t really like to think of myself as… completely violent. I’m not a super violent person. I just ain’t takin’ shit from anybody.” Jason paused and looked at him. Harv turned to actually look at him. Jason had sat on what he assumed was his blind side. He hated having a blind side. He hadn’t been able to see out of that eye well since the accident, but he could see blurred shapes. Now he saw nothing. 

“Alright look I just…” Jason paused. “Okay, so like.. My stepmom was a drug addict.. My father… Well you killed him.” 

_ Oh fuck. Oh shit.  _

“Nah like that’s… That’s… Okay- my father wasn’t a great man, and definitely… Look I don’t… Okay it’s weird but I don’t… I don’t hate you all that much… I brought it up because of my stepmother…. Your father was an alcoholic, right?” 

“Why do you wanna know?” asked Harv. “What’s it matter to you?” 

“Look… Bruce had great parents, Dick had great parents, Babs still has a great dad, Tim had great  _ rich  _ parents, and Damian is real young and his family issues are weird… We just… I dunno, Bruce is keeping you all around and I just… I wanna get why.”

“What does any of that mean? Like I get it, you had a druggie mom, we had an alchololic dad… God I wish ya’d fuckin’ talk to Harvey ‘bout this instead of me.”

“Why? How’s that better?”

“Because I was the fuckin’ trauma guy for like fuckin’ forever and I don’t wanna deal with it!” 

“Alright I know jack and shit about your whole deal so I have no idea what that means,” Jason said.

“For a long time Harvey didn’ even know he was ever beaten by our dad. Like when this shit first happened we were a kid, then I started bein’ around and I took  _ all  _ of it for him and I fought off  _ everybody  _ for him- he didn’ even have to deal with all our shit and he always wondered why I was so angry all the time!” he paused for a second. “I just wanna stop having to think about it always and deal with it all the time and I just… I just want our face back and to just be okay… I just wanna be okay and then another jackass comes in and fuckin’ ruins our face and now everybody’s here and they’re all gonna see that we’re a fuckin’ mess and can’t even stop our own stupid….” Harv didn’t know what the hell to call Christopher, and just laid back quietly. He really hoped he hadn’t been too loud. Jason just sort of sat there. 

“You gotta right to be mad, man,” said Jason. “That’s.. That’s tough.” 

“I know I’ve hurt people… A lot of people. I wanna be less angry, I don’t  _ want  _ to hurt people.. But I’m not gonna let more happen to us. We’ve had enough. If I could fuckin’ kill Christopher then I would… But I… can’t… I can’t do shit about him, but he can hurt us.” Harv flopped back and their head hit the tub. He shot back up. “Fuck-”

“I got you,” Jason said, grabbing a towel and rolling it up, putting it under his head. Jason shifted, he could hear him doing it. “Hey how do you feel about dogs?” 

Alfred lived in a house full of rowdy teenage acrobats. It did not take him long to clean up a broken vase. However, he did enjoy listening to Jason and Harv talk.  _ Actually  _ talk. He knew Jason was going to be abrasive towards him. He didn’t exactly expect that they might actually get along to some extent. Jason hadn’t asked somebody that many questions since he was young. Alfred remembered when Jason was young. He was curious and impulsive, sure, but he was happy. When he had first come to the manor he seemed so delighted. It was delightful. Jason, like Bruce, had become so incredibly consumed by crime fighting and putting criminals in their place that he rarely seemed very happy any more. Unlike the rest of them, Alfred had a good idea of what they all needed. He hoped that Jason and Harv could rub off on each other a little and come to realize that what they both needed the most was to heal. They needed recovery, not crime fighting. He sighed. Hopefully they’d understand it some day. 

“Harv?” asked Alfred. “You’ll have to see the doctor about that injury and the early removal of your bandages. I can drive you there so it doesn’t make a scene. None of that ‘being a burden’ nonsense, I have to go shopping anyways and you’re going to assist me.”

“That’s real nice of you Alfred, but we’d might as well just let everybody freak out, we can’t hide it-”

“I have a plan,” Jason said. 

Bruce had absolutely no idea what Jason was trying to do, or what Harv was doing by being a part of it, or why Alfred was supporting it, but he decided to wait and watch. Harv was wearing Jason’s hood and his jacket and Jason was clinging to his back trying to hide under the jacket. Alfred looked at them like they weren’t doing anything weird at all. 

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Dick.

“I’ve gotta go on patrol,” Jason said. Jason looked like a hunch, one of his boots was sticking out, and Harv was significantly taller and wider than him. It was the most obvious thing he had ever seen in his life. But Jason and Harv were working together? To accomplish something stupid, obviously, but Alfred was clearly in on it as well. He had a very limited capacity for shenanigans. 

“Uh… Jason…” Tim began.

“Todd has finally lost his mind,” said Damian. Bruce heard Jason attempt to whisper to Harv to start walking towards the door. Alfred went with them. 

“Indeed, it’s much too cold to go on patrol without a scarf,” Alfred said, putting a scarf of them both and almost breaking into laughter right there. Bruce just watched. Barbara started laughing at them. 

“What’s so funny Babs?” asked Jason. 

“Just uh… The scarf over your hood,” She said laughing a little. They went out the door, followed by Alfred. 

“Everyone else saw that, right?” Dick asked. 

“One minute, Todd is the one arguing against him staying the most admittedly, next he’s doing… Whatever that was,” Damian said. 

“Maybe he’s trying to warm the Dents up to the idea of letting you get another dog,” Dick offered. 

“True, does Harvey get a say in the dog debate?” Barbara asked jokingly. Damian gasped.

“Does he get three votes?” asked Damian. “Todd is brilliant. The Dents are an untapped market.” As Damian and Tim began to bicker about the validity of Harvey and his alters getting separate votes in the dog debate, Bruce decided to call Alfred and figure out what the hell was actually going on. 

“Alfred?” Bruce said.

“Yes, Master Wayne?”

“What was that about?” 

Harv could barely see in the Hood. Jason was on their back and he was sweating bullets. There was absolutely no way this would work. 

_ This is a bad idea!  _ Harvey told him. 

_ He only has bad ideas.  _ offered Christopher.

_ You’re the reason we’re in this mess!  _

_ Both of you shut up! I’m dealing with it!  _ Harv told them. 

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Dick.

“I’ve gotta go on patrol,” Jason said. Harv tried to make natural looking hand movements as Jason spoke. 

“Uh… Jason…” Tim began.

“Todd has finally lost his mind,” said Damian.

“Harv ya gotta move to the door,” whispered Jason. He did, moving with his back to the wall like a giant crab. He couldn’t let them see Jason. Jason dipped a foot out of the coat and kicked him in the ass. He moved faster. 

“Indeed, it’s much too cold to go on patrol without a scarf,” Alfred said, gently putting a scarf on them. Alfred was grinning and almost laughing. He tried to stay calm. He heard someone laughing at them. Barbara. Oh shit! In her wheelchair she had to be able to see Jason’s foot. 

“What’s so funny Babs?” asked Jason. 

“Just uh… The scarf over your hood,” She said laughing a little. They went out the door, followed by Alfred. They made it to the car and Jason wriggled out of the jacket. 

“I can’t believe that worked!” Alfred drove them to the hospital. Harv got up. How the hell was he going to explain this shit? Then Alfred got a phone call. 

“Yes, Master Wayne?”

“Ah shit it didn’t work,” Jason said. 

“You two go inside,” Alfred said, “I can deal with Master Wayne.” Jason and Harv went inside. He didn’t even think about how there was no reason for Jason to follow him. They just went. He walked to the receptionist. 

“Mr. Dent! Your bandages- what happened?” the receptionist asked. He should have called in, they probably didn’t have the time or the space to deal with him. But he had to get this taken care of. One of them did. 

“It’s a long story, wasn’t on purpose. Just need to see Dr. Parks.. Whenever you uh- have time.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a shorter chapter, but big things are coming, hopefully.

It didn’t take long before Alfred came inside.

“Well, you two are not masters of sneaking nor mischief yet, and Master Bruce is now aware of the incident with Christopher. You’ll have to explain more when we get back.”

“Mr. Dent? Come on back.”

Ultimately they were just lucky that Christopher didn’t do it earlier. They would have gotten the bandages off soon anyways. The doctor cleaned up their face and ended up bandaging over the new scar. 

“Can I ask a question?”

“Of course.”

“Are we blind in that eye now?” asked Harv.

“Well, if you weren’t before you definitely are now. Christopher hit it as well.” Dr. Parks brought out a flashlight and covered their good eye. He was vaguely aware of some light. “Yeah, that’s a blind eye.” 

The grocery store was busy. It seemed like it was just his day to deal with everything. Harv stayed with his blind side next to Jason. He didn’t like the idea of having a blind side. 

“Alright, Harv, Jason, can you go and get paper towels?” 

“Got it,” Jason said. Harv followed him around fairly closely. Before Harv even got in the isle Jason was in Jason darted back and grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him back.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Riddler and I don’t wanna deal with his shit right now.” 

“You left an isle because of the Riddler? Just shove him.”

“I just don’t wanna deal with his stupid riddles and whenever we see them it ends up in a fight-”

“I’ve got this,” Harv said. He walked into the isle. Jason followed him. Riddler locked eyes with him. He stared Riddler down. “You gotta problem Eddie?” 

“No,” Riddler said, grabbing a pack of toilet paper. Riddler moved as quickly as he could out of the way. Jason grabbed the toilet paper.

“How on Earth do you intimidate the Riddler? Like I’ve tried but I always thought his ego was just too big. Like I’ve threatened him with death.”

“Once when we were out of Arkham he wouldn’t shut up so Harvey took his riddle notebook and gave it to the Joker. He doesn’t mess with us anymore.” 

  
  


He had no idea what amount of time had gone by. He hadn’t been fully in control for over a week. He looked at a framed painting in the office and saw his smuggy reflection. His attempt at re-scaring them seemed to have healed. He couldn’t really tell. He looked across the room. There was a doctor.

“Who are you?”

“Who am I speaking to?” asked the doctor. He couldn’t see the doctor well. They’d been drugged, most likely. 

“Who is asking?”

“Are you Christopher?”

“Yes, who are you?” Christopher demanded.

“I’m the therapist Harvey and Harv have been seeing. It’s nice to formally meet you.”

“What type of medication have you been giving them?” he demanded.

“None currently, why?”

“I know you’re lying. I can barely see.”

“It’s entirely possible that you can’t see as well as the others, and you might need glasses. Can we talk for a moment Christopher?” There was a pause.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Why do you feel the need to harm Harvey and Harv?”

“They deserve what they get.”

“How long have you been around?” asked the doctor. “What are your earliest memories like?”

“Since the beginning of their crimes… I have odd memories of Harv antagonizing a drunken man until he physically assaulted us. Lots of memories of Harv killing people.” There was a pause. 

“You don’t recall the abuse then?”

“Abuse?”

“Of you all. As a child. Do you have any childhood memories?” There was a pause.

“No. I suppose not.”

“So you’ve only seen them as criminals?” He paused.

“Yes.”

“Do you have any positive memories?” Christopher tried to recall one. He tried as hard as he possibly could.

“No.” He paused. “I do not.” 

“So…. Alright, Christopher, you are aware you are part of a system?” He paused.

“Yes.. I share a body with them.” 

“Well… What do you believe you’re doing to protect them?”

“What?”

“I know your type, Christopher.” He paused and wondered. He hated them. He just wanted… 

“I just want them to be alone. The way they deserve to. To keep good people away from them.”

“You’re trying to keep them from getting hurt by people, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“Think about it.” He took a moment. He tried to process it. Was he trying to protect anybody? He had to keep them away from people… Punish them for reaching out to other people… By damaging their face. That had been what separated them from the others. He had to separate them. 

“It’s because he can’t be controlled. Harv just asks for it! He asks for him to hurt us! He snaps and gets us hurt. We’re better alone!”

“Who hurt you all?” He paused for a moment.

“I don’t.. Remember… I don’t remember a lot of things but I can feel it- I can  _ feel  _ it still… We’re better off alone. If that means I have to burn our whole face off I will!”

“You do care about what’s better for you, right?” asked the doctor.

“Yes?”

“Alright, so cutting your face open blinded one of your eyes. How does that benefit you? Any of you?” There was a pause. 

“I don’t know..”

“Look, what I’m trying to do is help you. But you have to help yourselves. You have a lot of anger towards Harvey and towards Harv but… that’s not healthy. You can’t blame them for the abuse. Only the abuser. They were a  _ child. You  _ were a  _ child.  _ You’ve got to be kind to yourself and to them." Christopher had few conscious memories of existing. He felt like he hadn’t existed long at all. But he could feel the way back to normal close off. He couldn’t go back to doing what he had. He wanted to just ignore it all, or just live in a dissociative state, let Harv and Harvey deal with the consequences. But he wanted to protect them. He couldn’t. He had to make a change, regardless of how much he didn’t want to. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took me a long time to get this done, I apologize. Thank you everyone who stuck with me on this- Especially Venus! Your wonderful comments brightened my day and inspired me to finish this, late but still somewhat. Thank you all so much. I hope you enjoy the ending.

Harvey sat on the couch. Bruce walked towards him, he could hear Bruce, but not see him. Bruce leaned over towards his scarred- well  _ blind  _ side, and kissed his cheek. Harv had been hanging out in the outer reaches of his consciousness, but he could feel him jump forwards suddenly. 

_ We can feel it!  _

“Bruce,” he began.

“Yeah?”

“We can feel it!” he exclaimed. He pulled Bruce a bit over the couch and kissed him too. 

“Yo okay,” Jason said, walking into the room. Bruce rolled and sat up. He seemed to be able to control his blushing. Harvey could not. “Like you do whoever you want Bruce but like alright.” 

“You’ll understand when you’re older Jason,” Bruce said.

“Bruce I am a whole ass adult-”

“Ah, the innocence of youth,” Harvey caught on quickly. 

“Don’t you do it too-” Jason said. “I dunno how this works but uh- Harv back me up, Harvey’s being mean-” 

“Harv can’t save you,” Harvey said. “Remember, he’s only half of a criminal mastermind-” 

“You three were never exactly a criminal mastermind. You’re only the second best crime lord in Gotham.” 

“Oh really, then who’s the best?” asked Harvey.

_ If he says Thorne you have to punch him for us,  _ said Harv. 

_ Agreed,  _ Christopher added. Harvey considered prodding at Christopher a little, asking why it was such a horrible offense that he had crawled up to say his piece, but Harvey was sort of just happy he was getting along. Harv was anxious about it and he could feel it.

“Cobblepott.” 

“I am beyond offended, I cannot believe this,” Harvey said, unable to keep from grinning. 

_ I mean at least we kept our two theme,  _ Christopher added. 

_ Hey that’s a me and Harvey thing,  _ Harv said.  _ Three’s a crowd.  _

_ Glad to hear you two getting along,  _ Harvey added. 

“It’s true, I mean have you seen his club?” Jason said. 

“It is a nice club,” Bruce said. 

“Ha! Hey Dick I told you I’m Bruce’s favorite!” Jason said, walking out to harass Dick. 

“Sorry about that, it’s just always a full house here,” Bruce said.

“Bruce… There was a time that even with all three of us in a crowd of a thousand people I would still feel lonely… This is really nice,” Harvey said. 

Harv had a very simple task. A rescue mission. Damian was currently very upset at the sudden disappearance of Alfred the Cat, who he believed had been eaten by a hawk. Harv, Dick, and Cass had decided to go out and search for the cat, to prove that he had in fact not been eaten. Harv was searching the nearest part of town as Cass surveyed the grounds and Dick checked nearby trees. Harv looked around, not seeing any signs of the black and white cat. He sighed. He checked around in an alley. 

“Alfred! Kitty kitty!” He turned a moment before he was hit, hypervigilance almost paying off. He crumpled to the ground, looking up at a masked hooligan. His first was instantly Sionis- guy loved masks. But this was just a civilian- no a vigilante. 

“Get fucked, Twoface!” the amature vigilante raised the board he had hit Harv with and went to hit him again. Harv stood up grabbed the board from his hands, throwing it to the side before punching him in the face. The amature vigilante decided suddenly that this wasn’t worth it and turned to run. Harv’s imediate thought was to attack- nobody got to fuck with them like that, nobody got to hurt them like that- the he heard meowing. He turrned. Alfred. The cat had gotten in a dumpster.

_ I’ll deal with this fucker first-  _ Harv began.

_ Harv, wait. That cat matters a lot to Damian,  _ Harvey argued.  _ And he matters to us.  _ Harv paused. This wanna-be vigilante hadn’t done much as far as he could tell. He gritted his teeth, pushing back the urge to chase him down and murder him. 

“You better fucking run!” he yelled anyways. Then he turned. “This is your fault,” he told the cat, picking him up. 

Christopher hadn’t fronted much outside of therapy. But it was a bad day. Of course, there was the damn wanna-be vigilante, and then the news reflected it. His instant thought was that they deserved it, and that Harv shouldn’t have fought him, shouldn’t have done the dumb shit he always did. Now all Bruce’s kids would think they were just as bad as they’d always been, the public seemed to at least. The vigilante had a friend, who had a camera. They’d planned it. He watched the video on the news. Harv called out to the cat, trying to catch it. The camera man said something to his friend. 

“Get him.”

_ They followed us,  _ Christopher thought. 

_ We were attacked!  _ Added Harv.

_ For no reason.  _ Christopher watched it, once, then again, then again. Harv hadn’t done anything wrong. Christopher remembered crying maybe once before. But then he started to outright weep. Alfred the cat hopped on the bed next to him and meowed.  _ There was never a reason.  _ He felt the welt on the back of their head. Harv hadn’t bothered to check it or put anything on it he was so- No. Their therapist’s words echoed in Christopher’s mind for a moment.  _ The three of you didn’t deserve this. It was unfair, and it was cruel, but we can’t take it back. Right now you have to focus on being your own good parent. The parent you all needed.  _ Harv didn’t deserve to be ridiculed for not taking care of them then. Chrisopher got up and went to the kitchen, getting ice and putting it in a ziplock bag. Someone had to take care of them. The others weren’t any good at it, so if Christopher had to, he would. 

“You’re Christopher, right?” asked Damian. He turned suddenly. He hadn’t spoken to the family much. 

“Uh… yes,” he said. 

“You look like you could use my advice,” Damian said. Christopher placed the bag of ice on their head. 

“Sure,” he said, almost snickering. Sweet kid he guessed. “What is it?”

“Ah- You must promise your allegiance to the side of pro-dog once the dog debate comes back in order to get my advice.” Maybe not so sweet.

“Sure, pro-dog,” Christopher said. 

“It’s not easy, but day by day you’ll learn to trust yourself again,” Damian said. “I know what it’s like to hurt people, even people you care about…. And to get hurt.” Christopher’s chest clenched and he almost teared up again.

“No one’s ever going to hurt you again, I promise,” he said to Damian.

“I know, because I’ll kick their ass.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to say that word,” Christopher said.

“Todd says it.”

“Todd says a lot of things.” 

The day had come. Harvey sat in the living room with the others, the first time the three of them had been invited to a family meeting. He held Bruce’s hand in his. Damian had found a puppy. Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Barbara, Cassandra, and Alfred had been called in, and Duke, who was busy dealing with something more serious than the dog decision, had answered a video call. 

“No more pets,” Bruce said.

“Vs one more pet,” Damian said, holding the scraggly mutt close. “And if it’s a tie one more pet.”

“I did agree to that,” Bruce clairfied. 

“I vote no more pets, sorry Damian,” Dick said.

“I say the dog stays,” Jason said.

“He’s handled his responsibilities as a cat owner well, I agree,” Alfred said. 

“We have no idea how big that dog’s gonna get, I’m sorry Damian but no,” Barbara said. 

“It’d be awesome,”said Cass, “But we got enough pets man.”

“I’ve cleaned up Alfred’s hairballs too many times, Dami,” said Stephanie. 

“I think a dog would be good for him. Get some of that energy out,” said Duke.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to agree with Bruce here,” Harvey said.

“Wait- do the rest of the Dents get to vote?” asked Jason.

“I mean I don’t think we disagree-” Harvey began.

_ Oh yeah we do.  _ Harv said. 

“Nevermind…”

“Sure,” Bruce said. “We’ll let Harv’s pro-dog vote count.”

“Harv is pro-dog,” Harvey said. 

“Good man, Harv,” Jason said. 

_ As am I.  _

“And so is Christopher?” Harvey was confused to say the least.

“I knew you were a valuable ally!” The pro-dog crowd cheered at their victory, minus Alfred, and Harvey sighed.

“I didn’t think that would happen,” he said.

“Me neither, but it’s alright. So far all the best things I’ve had in my life have been… unplanned to say the least and a little messy at times but so,  _ so  _ rewarding,” Bruce said, sitting next to Harvey. The kids were discussing appropriate dog names. “I know you could eventually live on your own, but I want you to know you three are welcome to stay here… With me.”

“If you’ll have us, absolutely.” 

“That was a bit fast for a discussion,” Bruce said. “If you get seperate votes for the dog debate you get seperate votes for this too.”

_ I don’t wanna leave.  _ Harv said.

_ I think it would be best for us to stay,  _ added Christopher. 

And so they did. And time went on. 


End file.
